A U.S. federal judge has given the nod to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in their bid to block the testimony of seven witnesses set to speak in defense of ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, commonly known as SBF.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, presiding over the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, on September 21, agreed to in limine motions forwarded by the prosecution, effectively preventing specific witnesses from taking the stand in the forthcoming criminal trial of SBF. The reasons provided by Kaplan for siding with the DOJ ranged from some testimonies being ambiguous, unrelated to the trial’s context, or potentially muddling the case’s facts for the jury.
The contested witnesses in this criminal case consist of Thomas Bishop, Brian Kim, Bradley Smith, Lawrence Akka, Joseph Pimbley, Peter Vinella, and Andrew Di Wu. A significant portion of these witnesses have legal backgrounds. Documents filed in late August hint that SBF’s defense might have agreed to pay some of these witnesses at rates as high as $1,200 an hour for their testimony.
While Judge Kaplan has blocked certain witnesses, he has kept avenues open for SBF’s legal team to possibly summon some of them later, contingent on testimonies provided by the government’s witnesses. However, Kaplan refused a request from SBF’s attorneys to rule out testimony from Peter Easton, a professor of accountancy from the University of Notre Dame, who is slated to discuss FTX’s customer fiat accounts.
Bankman-Fried’s inaugural criminal trial, scheduled for October 3, will address seven criminal allegations tied to purported misappropriation of user funds linked to FTX and Alameda Research. Another trial set for March 2024 will address five additional criminal charges. Throughout, SBF has consistently maintained his innocence.
After a decision in August to revoke his bail, SBF has predominantly been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting his trial. A recent attempt by SBF’s legal representatives to secure an early release, mainly based on First Amendment rights, was rejected by a panel of three judges on September 21.
Get $200 Free Bitcoins every hour! No Deposit No Credit Card required. Sign Up